


Blood of a Phoenix

by Iguanadont



Category: God Eater (Video Games)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Fights, Gen, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22739659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Iguanadont/pseuds/Iguanadont
Summary: Set Chronologically a few months after the end of God Eater 2, but before God Eater 3. Spoilers for God Eater 2's story. It follows the same Avatar protagonist, hereafter known as Ruby Meadows.Life at Far East Branch of Fenrir has been quiet since the fall of the Spiral Tree, and the God Eaters are hopeful for a future without Aragami. The signs of trouble are small; the Blood Alpha begins having visions and seizures, and equipment begins going wrong. What first appears to be simple malfunctions begins to develop into something much more dangerous, and the Far East Branch must rally it's strength once more to combat this new threat to the world.
Kudos: 3





	1. Queen of Wolves

**Author's Note:**

> I am using this to lay out my thought process while writing this, and why I made some of the choices I made. Plot spoilers start in the third paragraph (inclusive).
> 
> Understandably, it being a game where you design a character, God Eater 2's protagonist doesn't really have much character. They are more of a vessel for the player to interact with the world. This is fine for a game, but doesn't really work for a written story, so I decided to give the character a name, and attempted to give her a personality and history. This is also why I created Autumn Meadows, and her story.
> 
> The inspiration for this story was simply to plug a plot hole: There was an Arc Aberrant created for each of the active members of Blood during God Eater 2's story, assuming the Einherjar is attributable to Julius, so what happened to the Protag's Arc Aberrant? What sort of properties and powers would it have? Would it have evolved or changed in the time after the story? On thing lead to another, and I decided to write it down. After about a year on and off, I created this.
> 
> I tried to set up the finale in a style similar to the game, a multi stage mission. I'm not good enough at game design to mod it in, but I hope you like the concept.

Sunlight and a breeze cast the Lush Sanctuary in shimmering emerald, as Ruby knelt down to take in the beauty of what destruction had created. Her red and black clothes were emblazoned with a wolf’s head, and her black hair was a little more unkempt than usual, but still a short, straight cut. Her swamp green eyes fell on a yellow flower that looked to her like a bell. She did not its name, but knelt down to smell it.  
“Pretty. I wonder if this place will grow roses. I’d love to smell one someday.” She lazed on the grass for a while, before the reason she was here came back to her.  
She got up, and approached a wooden hut at the foot of a mountain. The range extended around them, a vast white wall cradling a green valley. Just like there was once across this world, and with a little luck, would be again. Petrified Aragami stood guard over the foothills like grotesques, their forms as terrifying now as in life. But the monsters held no power here. Not anymore.  
When she got closer, she noticed a figure dragging a rake across a vegetable patch outside the hut. Brown messy hair was stuck to his sweaty brow, and he wore a black jacket and white shirt. It seemed he was gardening, and although Ruby didn’t know how to correct him, he was plaining doing it wrong. Ruby watched him amusedly for a bit, only once he huffed to a halt did he notice her.  
“Captain.” Julius Visconti had never been one for informalities, even off duty.  
“Hey Julius. I’ve already said, you don’t need to call me Captain.”  
“Of course. Forgive me. But what brings you here?”  
“Just wanted to see how your pet project is coming along. Need any help?”  
“No thank you. With any luck, we should have oranges growing by the end of the season.”  
“It must be hard to do this without your God Eater abilities. Or Oracle tech.”  
“If it holds the secret to a future without Aragami, it’s worth it.” Julius seemed to remember how long it had been since they had last spoken, and changed the subject. “How was your leave?”  
Ruby’s seemed to bounce with excitement as she launched rapidly into her speech. “I spent it with Auntie Autumn. It was so much fun!”  
“Really? What did you get up to?”  
Ruby wondered how to answer this question, and a memory sprung to mind. 

Feverish blood pounding, her vision red. God Arc clutched in her right hand, A Yaksha filled her vision. Humanoid but alien, with a green body and purple pauldrons on its shoulders. three times her height and already full of scars. Three more of its kind flanked her, she was surrounded. They roared in unison, and aimed their cannon arms at her. Hunter and prey stared at each other. Her weapon whirred, and with a wolf like howl the creature hidden within revealed its fangs. Before the Yaksha could fire, she swung the scythe blade in a wide arc, dismembering the legs of the unfortunate beast ahead of her, and causing the next to collapse forward as the teeth buried into its ankles. From behind her, she heard cannon fire. Instinctively, she leapt skywards, the purple energy flying underneath her, and exploding at her feet. She thrust her God Arc straight ahead of her, cartwheeling through the air under the force of her own swing. Still airborne, she switched to gun form, the shot from her rifle causing enough blowback to maintain her short flight, and strong enough to punch straight through one of the creatures who failed to shoot her. As quick as she could, she switched her weapon back to a scythe, and brought it down in a crescent on top of the now legless monster. It howled in pain as teeth pierced its back, the prey pinned down.  
“Mum! Do the thing!”  
From half a kilometre away, prostrate and aiming down the sights at its head, a vulture readied the coup de gra.  
Ruby heard the calling card over the intercom. “Check your privilege.”  
“Oh, you know. Mother/daughter bonding stuff. I think she’s been happier since she started her new job, although it’s hard to tell with her. Which reminds me, are you coming to work today?”  
“I have taken the day off to finish this. It’s been quiet since the fall of the Spiral Tree anyway.”  
“It’s ok. I can cover. I’ll be back at base if you want to come say hi when you are done.”  
She turned on her heel, and began to head towards the split in the valley where she had entered. After crossing the greenery, a roofless tunnel stretched before her, dark from the shadows on each side, and at its exit, Ruby bid goodbye to this haven of man, and re-entered the world of gods and monsters.  
Unprotected by the walls of the Sanctuary, the wind blew fast and brutal over the plains of Japan, scattering minarets of dust across the landscape. It was cast in monochrome, nothing but brown and grey. There was no sound from the featureless place baring the rustle of Ruby’s clothes in the wind. Beyond the walls, the power the lurked within her veins awakened once more, and her God Eater abilities returned. Like a sixth sense, Evoke flooded her, and she felt truly like herself once more. She tasted the ash on her tongue, surveying the world she was fighting to win. This was the burden of a God Eater. After all, if she did not, who would?


	2. Just Another Day

A quick car ride was necessary to get back to base, taking detours to avoid any of the occupants of this wasteland. She crossed the threshold of the vast wall that separated the last stronghold of man from the rest of the world, through the ghettos and to the best defended district. It was known as the Far East Branch of Fenrir HQ, and was the centrepiece of God Eater operations across Asia. After walking through the rusted doors, she made a beeline for the front desk, where missions were distributed. Hibari Takeda, head operator in the Far East, was there as usual.  
“Morning Hibari! What have you got for me today?”  
“Hey Ruby. Honestly, not a lot. It’s only been little jobs since the Spiral Tree fell three months ago.”  
Ruby’s face fell. “Again? I know its good news if there aren’t many Aragami running around, but if I haven’t got anything to do, I may as well have stayed on leave.”  
“I can give you something” she replied, checking the monitor. “There are a couple of Arc Aberrants running around the Valley of the Blue Ice. They aren’t doing anything yet, but you could sink your teeth into that if you like?”  
She brightened up, adopting the hyperactive demeanour that signals battle. “Thanks! Can you get Mutsumi to set me up on a date with a double cheeseburger when I get back?”  
Hibari chuckled. “Ok.” She pressed some buttons. “You’re all set. You are the only person I know who actively looks for work.”  
She made her way towards the storage hold where her God Arc is kept. “Hibari. My job is I fight giant monsters. It’s nice when your job and your hobby are the same thing.”

Once she had picked up her God Arc, she returned to the dispatch zone. She found two people there. Tastumi and Kanon.  
“Kanon, it’s not that I don’t want to go on a mission with you, but…”  
“It won’t be hard, I just want to practice with my God Arc, that’s all!”  
“Yeah, that’s the problem.”  
“Hey people!” Called Ruby, “how’s it going?”  
“Instructor!” Kanon replied.  
Tastumi seemed relieved his excuse had arrived. “Ruby! Kanon wants to go on a mission, but I… can’t. Could you take her?”  
Ruby understood what he meant by can’t. “Alright Tatsumi, I’ll take the bullet for you.” She locked her scythe to steel herself. “Follow me, Apprentice?”  
The pink haired bundle of fun bounced at the command. “I won’t let you down!”

Within a few minutes, the two were atop the great glacial dam that overlooks Fenrir. Kanon observed the targets first, through a set of binoculars. Black and red gorilla-like beings, with long tails and drums upon their backs.   
“Found them Instructor!”  
“Ok! Here’s the plan. Follow me. I’ll go in there swinging Summer around like crazy, to try and break them up. When I do, I’ll go for one. You, fire at the other. Only fire vaguely in my direction if I shout ‘Healz plz’, K?”  
“Erm… ok.”  
“Alright. Time to go to work.”

The Kongou heard her before they saw her. Rearing up on their hind legs, they pounded their stomachs in an attempt to intimidate. The beat was interrupted as steel buried into the chest of one, dragging it backwards from the force of the strike. Before the wounded one could recover, Ruby switched to gun form and began to cover it in a hail of bullets. Then, she was hit in the back with a force like a bomb. Dazed and spread eagled, it took her longer than it should have to realise her cape was on fire.  
“Sorry, Instructor! I hit the other guy though!”  
Ruby beat the flames out and prepared something snarky, then remembered a very upset monster was about ten feet behind her, and decided the back-sass would have to wait. She looped around to the opposite side of her target so she was no longer surrounded, then squared up with the monster. It rolled towards her, so she ducked sideways and brought her scythe blade down on the tail as it passed, severing it. Enraged, the Kongou reared again, the drum-like organs on its back blazing with energy as it leapt high into the air. Ruby watched it go, trying to focus on where it would land. For a moment, it was framed against a rapidly darkening sky, then it fell with thunder and flame at its heels, on the edge of the great dam. The creature had just enough time to realise what was about to happen before the bullet rain began again, sending Oracle flying off its flanks. Recoiling from the blasts, it tumbled from the dam, and was broken on the ice below.   
“One down, one to go.” She opened up her intercom. “How are you doing, Kanon?”  
“Erm… Ruby! Came a nervous sounding voice. Then an earthquake rocked the glacier. Ruby turned to the source, only to discover the cloud that had blocked out the Sun behind her hadn’t been a cloud at all.  
“Hibari. Are you getting any Oracle readings from your scanner?”  
There was heavy static on the line, but a reply came. “Negative, Blood Alpha. Why?”  
Ruby screams into the phone “then, there’s something wrong with your machine!”  
She had not heard it descending from the air over the sound of combat, but now they had been joined by an Ouroboros. Looking fresh out of one of Lovecraft’s nightmares, an impossibly tall amalgam of tendrils and moss, With twenty unblinking red eyes.   
“Kanon!” Ruby ran as fast as she could to her friend’s side. She had sensibly hidden behind one of the old stone structures, reloading while the last Kongou panicked about becoming lunch.  
“Ruby, we need e-back, now.”  
“If we let it stay here, it could collapse the dam! We have got to drive it off or take it out.”  
“Us two? Take on that thing!”  
“Lindow did it.”  
“He’s Lindow!”  
“Kanon. I want to you to, listen, shoot me with a healing bullet. The one that power’s me up.”  
For a minute she felt the Oracle knit back together the wounds for Kanon’s bullet. Then, she stepped out from her hiding place, and felt the stare of the horror fall upon her, focusing on the wasp that dared challenge it.  
“I swear this oath upon Summer Meadows, by Kazuto Icimara, and by all the gods and goddesses. That wherever I find myself, I will dedicate myself to defending the weak. This pledge I make to thee.” As she spoke, gold fire sprung from the inside of her God Arc, like the doors of a furnace being opened. “Evoke. Against this foe I will stand. Give me the strength to commit deicide!”  
The fire crystallised into golden chains that wrapped around the God Arc, tying Ruby’s right hand to it as if they were one.  
Then she charged, a hand movement changing her weapon to gun form. A hail of bullets cut into the mountainous creature before her, but they barely even seemed to sting it. It flung one of its great tentacles forwards, but Ruby dodged aside. The creature swung the tentacle sideways, but Ruby had seen this move many times before. The scythe swung, cutting off the tentacle as it came towards her, Oracle spraying out of it like blood. A golden chain broke upon her God Arc. The creature gave an unearthly cry and its eyes burned with energy.  
“Duck!” Ruby cried to Kanon, but she had been rediscovered by the last Kongou. Ruby ran forward and pinned her to the ground, as a sound like a thunderbolt split the air. She raised her shield and felt heat beyond belief through the shield as energy so dense it felt solid struck it. The deadly light beam incinerated the world around them, Small fires broke out in its wake. The Kongou that had been bearing down on them wasn’t so lucky. They heard a guttural cry, a sizzling sound, the smell of burning flesh, a groan. Then no more. They looked up to see a puddle of collapsing Oracle Cells on the ground. She scrambled to her feet, but to her terror, the Ouroboros was advancing, big enough to crush them under one foot. Unlocking the beast within the weapon, it jumped for the creature’s toe, tearing a chunk clean.   
As it tasted the monster, the last chain broke, and Ruby felt the strength of Blood Rage surge through her. Golden wings tore through her shoulders, blinding Kanon as a wave of burning energy launching from the God Arc, bright as a new born star. The wave struck the Ouroboros’ foot with such force the creature stumbled, its many tentacles descending to support itself. Ruby span the scythe in her hand fast enough it was a black blur, and with a flick of her wings, leapt for the creature’s face. She became a tornado of death, waves of light slicing out for her blade as it blended the behemoth. As the layers pulled back, a black agglomerate of Oracle pulsated like a beating heart, the creature’s core. One great sweep, and a beam of light launched from the blades tip, slicing the core apart. Around her, the Ouroboros became little more than dust to be carted off by the winds. She touched down, grabbing the remainder of the core in her hand. She stood there a moment longer to catch her breath, covered in head to foot with Oracle. A phoenix coated in ash.

They were back in less than an hour. “I’m sorry I worried you Ruby. I baked some cookies for us before we left, will you forgive me?”  
Ruby giggled. There was only one thing she loved more than fighting giant monsters. “I can’t stay mad at you. Come along to the canteen, I had Mutsumi set me up with a cheeseburger, we could make it a double date!”  
“Er… sure.”

Ruby opened the door of the canteen, to find two familiar faces. The figure on the right clutched a glass of beer in a gold gauntleted hand, had unkempt black hair and a white coat, as well as the demeanour that suggested cool, without overemphasising it. The other looked like Ruby, but with her black hair cut long, a red beret and eyes like steel.   
“… From our contact in South America, Yuu. He said he’d keep us up to…”  
“Auntie!”  
Autumn Meadows looked over, perhaps a little irritated that Lindow had been interrupted. Lindow didn’t care. “Hey Ruby.” Ruby had run over at the sight of her, Autumn raised her hand in reply. “No hugs, please.”  
Ruby resisted. Autumn had always lacked Ruby’s levity, in some ways more like a teacher than a parent. “It’s good to see you Auntie, but what are you doing here, I thought you aren’t welcome here for… you know… reasons” she finished awkwardly.  
Lindow laughed. “I asked Sakaki to turn a blind eye just for today. If she’s going to be operating in Cradle, I need to make sure her God Arc is in good condition. Plus, it’s a nice chance to catch up.”  
Kanon held out a hand to Autumn. “You are Ruby’s aunt? I’m Kanon. She talks a lot about you.” Under Autumn’s stare she added “all good things!”  
Autumn nodded in acknowledgement. “To answer your question, Ruby. Licca wanted to give my God Arc the once over before I started my new placement in Cradle.”  
“What did she say?”  
“She said that it looked like it hadn’t had a proper check-up in years, and had been serviced by a novice using spare parts. I congratulated her on her remarkable deduction, then advised her never to insult me like that again.”  
“And an attitude like that is why you’re disliked.” Lindow added.  
“I do not take kindly to cheek, Amamiya. You know that.”  
Lindow took another draft of beer. “Ruby, I should thank you for the tip. It’s a shame you can’t join Cradle, but it feels nostalgic having the Vulture back on side again. Met up at a café a week ago with Soma. It was like stepping back in time. Half expected Subaki to come swinging through the door with her God Arc!”  
Most of these references went over Ruby’s head. She got called by Mutsumi saying dinner was up.

After the debacle at the dam, Hibari decided to put the Oracle Scanner through testing. Licca stated she had found no problems, but Hibari wasn’t reassured. She had requested the help of several teams of God Eaters with the testing. Everything was working fine, then a large Oracle signature appeared on the map.  
“Team Epsilon. Not wanting to worry you, but a large hostile is in Sector C7.”  
“Roger.” Came the reply. “Moving to intercept.”  
“Copy that. Be careful.”  
For a while, the green blips of Team Epsilon moved to the target. Then as they moved to Sector D6, the blips disappeared.   
“There it is again.” Hibari said to herself. “Team Epsilon, your readings have gone dark. Do you read me?”  
Nothing but static replied.  
“Team Epsilon, can you hear me? Are you ok?”  
Static. Then silence.  
“Dammit.” She opened a new channel. “Team Gamma, I have lost contact with team Epsilon in Sector D6. There is a large hostile in the vicinity, can you provide backup?”  
“Affirmative. We will reroute.”  
“Keep an open com, I want to make sure there aren’t any problems.”  
“Ok. What do you want to talk about?”  
“Is this really the time? They could be in danger!”  
“Sorry, jeez. Are there any signatures where they disappeared?”  
“Nothing.”  
“We’ll tell you…” Static on the line.  
“Team Gamma, you are breaking up!”  
More static. Team Gamma’s blips flickered and died.  
“Extraction team, this is Hibari. We need to dispatch the extraction team to D6. I don’t know what’s happening, but two teams have disappeared there.”

Ruby knew nothing of what was happening in the lobby. She was relaxing in her quarters with her friend Ciel. She heard a sound, like a lone raindrop, then pain rocked her. Her vision blanked from the sudden agony, and just for second, she felt it.   
Power. Power beyond imagining. And a desire to kill.   
As suddenly as it came, it vanished.   
“Are you alright?” Ciel asked. “You keeled over for a moment.”  
Ruby didn’t know what to say. “Did you feel anything?”  
“Any what?”  
That was all Ruby needed to hear. “Just a headrush.” She wasn’t sure Ciel believed her, nor did she entirely believe it herself.  
The extraction team arrived at Sector D6 to find it empty. The green blips did not reappear on the map.


	3. Visions of the Vanished

The first the Blood unit heard anything was wrong was when a message from Director Sakaki appear in their inboxes the following day. “Seven God Eaters have been declared MIA, following a technical failure in Sector D6 yesterday. All God Eaters return to active duty for recon. Instruments are being inspected, but for the time being, if any technical issues with the Oracle Scanner or communicators occur while on missions, vacate the area immediately. The mission is less important than your safety. I will include the names of the missing in another message.”  
“Seven! In one mission!” Gilbert was horrified. “What the hell happened?”  
“We better go find them. They might get hungry.” Nana provided constructive thoughts as ever.  
The light had gone from Ruby’s eyes upon reading the message. “Nana.” Ruby said with the voice she reserved for difficult conversations. “The message said we are on recon.”  
“Yeah, so?”  
“Auntie told me that means we are looking for their God Arcs.”  
Nana may have been slow, but she knew enough about God Eaters to know what that meant.

A visit to the lounge confirmed Blood’s fears. Hibari was in the corner, sobbing over documents that were presumably the obituaries. They went over to comfort her.  
“Hibari.” Ruby said. “It wasn’t your fault.”  
“It was! I sent them out on that mission to test the problem you found.”  
This was more of a gut punch than Ruby had hoped for. “In… in that case, I am just as guilty as you. You were doing what you thought was right, as was I.”  
Ruby sensed this didn’t really help. Mercifully, Gilbert picked up the slack. “It’s a reality of our line of work. Which is why it is all the more important to keep up hope. Hope that we can make a world where this will not happen again. And we will.”  
Hibari sniffed, and regained a little composure. “Forgive me for asking, but when did this happen?” Ciel asked.  
“At 19:32.” Hibari replied.  
“That was around the time I had that funny turn.” Ruby thought to herself. She wondered whether Ciel had asked the question for that very reason.

Fran had offered to take over Hibari’s duties at the operating desk, so she was the one who greeted Blood as they prepared for work.  
“Morning. Captain Julius, I would like you to lead a team to Sector D6. Ruby, I have a special assignment for you.”  
Everyone turned to her. “I don’t know either.” She then spoke to Fran directly. “What is it?”  
“A kid has arrived in the infirmary upstairs. He’s the son of one of the God Eaters who went missing. Can you go speak with him?”  
“Why me?” This came across as more selfish that she intended, and she shrunk from embarrassment. “I’m not exactly known for my personal skills.”  
“Fenrir PR wants you too. And… you understand what it’s like.”  
“It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t around here.” Again, she spoke before she thought. She hung her head. “I’ll… I’ll try.”

She headed up quickly, far more frightened than she ever felt out in the field. Steeling herself just outside, she opened the door cautiously.  
“Hello? Doctor Yae? There was someone you wanted me to see?”  
A kid with wiry brown hair was sitting the on a chair in the corner, but looked up when he heard her voice.  
“You are… are you Ruby Meadows?”  
Ruby still wasn’t quite used to being Fenrir’s poster girl, so the recognition threw her a little. “Yes. Yes, I am. What’s your name?”  
“Kyle. Kyle Wilderman.” He took a little while to speak due to nerves. “When… when is Daddy coming home?” The child asked her, his cobalt eyes looking into hers.  
She waited a while before she answered. “Soon. He’ll be home soon, I’m sure.”  
They sat in silence for a minute, the room still a little icy. “You’re a God Eater, like my Dad. He had one of those armband things too.”  
She held it up for him to take a closer look. “They are very important. You can’t be a God Eater without your armlet.”  
“Can I get one someday? I want to be a God Eater like my Dad when I get older.”  
She wanted to say not everybody could, but realised soon enough that would be insensitive. Besides, Bias Factor compatibility had a tendency to run in families. “I was the same, but I couldn’t start until I was fourteen.”  
“What’s it like to be a God Eater?” Talking about his dream seem to have given Kyle his voice.  
Ruby had asked that question to her mother many times. “Let me tell you a story my Mum told me. Once upon a time, there were these creatures called salmon. They looked a bit like Gboro-Gboros, but weren’t human or Aragami. They lived in the ocean, but once every year, something called them to the land. They would travel upriver, spreading their wings and leaping up rapids in their way. They had to make that journey, even if it broke their spines and lashed their wings. When they came, more animals would come. All were different, but all were willing to put their differences aside for this bounty. The water would whisper and the sky would sing, telling the world of the salmon’s journey. You could hold them in your hands, and they would smell of salt. And when you put them back into the water, they would struggle free, and continue their journey. They never returned. Nobody knows why, but some people feel the salmon were giving their lives to save the land. That they made that journey because they were looking for a better future. That is what it is like to be a God Eater. That is what it means.”  
The kid wore an expression she remembered all too well. “Sounds… hard.”  
“It is, but the good news is you don’t have to face it alone.”  
A sound like falling rain, and her blood burned as if answering an innate call. She doubled down, barely feeling her knees hit the floor. And then, she was somewhere else.

The dragon stood before her. Foolish, daring to question her authority. But powerful, stronger than any she had faced before. It looked like a normal Caligula, but it was almost entirely charred black, but its eyes and lines between its plated skin glowed like a golden inferno. Just a moment ago, its eyes had been full of characteristic arrogance. Now, they held something which might resemble fear. She reared to her full height, rising to eye level with her challenger, and felt Evoke’s power flood her veins. The Caligula formed a spear of flame in its hand, and leapt forwards, plunging it into her chest. The spear scattered on contact with the Oracle energy encasing her body, and with an open palm she struck the dragon, her claws tearing a large gash in its face. Oracle lightning sprung from her as she howled again, rending the recoiling monster ahead of her. It crumpled to the ground, maybe considering escape. She would end it here. She pounced at its back, crushing it to the ground. She felt what might have been bone crack underneath her, heard its last desperate roars. Her fangs flew for its exposed throat…  
Doctor Yae was pinned down on the floor in front on her, her head bleeding from where she had been struck. Kyle was huddled in a corner, terrified.   
“What happened? Yae, I’m…”  
“Yes. What happened!” Came the reply.  
“I… I’ll escort myself to the brig, but I need to speak with the Director.”

As it happens, the Director was otherwise engaged. “Mr Sakaki!” Called Fran into a phone from the front desk. “A massive Oracle signature just appeared on the map! Sector F16!”  
“Where did it come from?” Came the reply.  
“I don’t know! It just appeared from nowhere.”  
“What scale are we looking at?”  
“Our instruments are going wild, readings indicate Deusphage… No… Nova level Oracle signature.”  
“Evacuate anyone in the vicinity! I’m on my way.”  
The lift descended, and the Director emerged. “Any updates? More information on the target?”  
“No.” Fran replied. “It vanished in the time it took for you to come down, I’m trying to track it.”  
“A target that size can’t just vanish! Even with unreliable instruments, it should light up like a Christmas tree.”  
“I want to know why we didn’t detect it sooner.”  
Sakaki checked the monitor for the location of currently dispatched teams. “F16 is clear. Keep teams on high alert. If it is anything like as powerful as a Nova, we are all in danger.”


	4. Vistors From Fenrir

Sakaki visited Ruby in the brig once things had calmed down a little bit.  
“I understand you assaulted Doctor Yae. I have been having a very bad day, so you had better a good excuse planned.”  
“Director. I had a resonance.”  
Sakaki pushed his glasses up his nose. “A unique excuse.”  
“I’m serious!” She protested. “I saw a vast Caligula, unlike any I have ever seen before. I fought it.”  
“…And during your hallucination, you believed the Doctor was this mutant.”  
“Yes.”  
It was only at this point that an idea occurred to Sakaki. “Did you get to see whose resonance it was?”  
“I was seeing through the eyes of the God Eater, but judging on their hand, I think they were already deep into the Aragami infection. Do you think it could have been one of the missing team?”  
“Perhaps. And the signature we picked up could have been the Aragami you saw. When did you have this vision?”  
“17:00 hours.”  
“The times match.” Speaking more to himself than to her. “This is useful information. However, it does not excuse your actions.”  
Ruby hung her head in shame. “I know.”  
“And I am not just talking about the incident that landed you here.” That got her attention. “Your actions against the Ouroboros were also against our code.”  
Ruby stood up and approached the bars. “I saved the dam. Do you know how many lives were at risk?”  
“Yes. Two.” Judging on her expression, Ruby did not respect this, so he continued. “Your Evoke gives you powers never before seen in God Eaters. You are the spearhead against the gods. But sometimes, I wonder if you fool yourself into thinking you are invincible. Because of this, you acted rashly, thinking the Ouroboros would pose a threat later. We could deal with it if it did. Now, you are well within your right to risk your own life if you wish. But not Kanon’s.”  
“I did what I thought was right. And it worked.”  
“And if it hadn’t?” She did not reply, instead she went to sit on the bed, giving every sign of resentment.  
“Did you ever hear the circumstances in which your aunt was thrown out of Fenrir?”  
“She doesn’t really like to talk about it. Said they didn’t like the way she did things.”  
“No, ‘they’ did not. And sometimes you remind me of her too much.”  
At this, she made eye contact again. “You knew her?”  
He smiled. “Not well. I suggest if you’re curious, talk to Soma. He knew her best. In the meantime, I’m putting you under constant supervision, in case you have another vision.”  
“Yes sir.”

A week passed in an atmosphere of unease, with worrying trends emerging. On the one hand, the trend of disappearing large Aragami that had been seen since the fall of the Spiral Tree continued. This reduced the need for routine missions, allowing more material to be focused on the missing God Eaters. And that was the other trend. Since the introduction of the Blood Unit, the survival rate of missions at the Far East branch had risen to 98%. Within a week, it had fallen to 50%. A few of the lucky units discovered the armlets of others, but the built-in recording technology shut down before whatever caused the killing could be seen. One thing was becoming clear. A new ‘Aragami King’ was free on the plains, slaughtering human and Aragami alike. And they had no way to track it.  
When the reports of the rising fatalities reached Fenrir, they sent a message stating they would help deal with the problem. Isaac Feldman of the Intelligence Unit acted as the interim, and on the Monday two God Eaters from Fenrir HQ Arrived. One was clad in a red battle suit bearing the Fenrir logo from head to foot, even covering his face and his armlet. The labelling indicated he was Swiss. The other wore standard issue Fenrir garb, coloured in purple. Her face was uncovered. She was very young, couldn’t be older than fifteen, with a deep birthmark extending over her face like a bruise.  
“Guten Tag.” She said.  
“Haru!” Sakaki called. Captain Haru was the Den’s ladies’ man, so far from the ideal candidate to welcome new people. It was unavoidable however, since his frequent travels from department to department had given him a gift for languages.  
“Hey, my lady.” He spoke in perfect German. “What is your name?”  
“Nixie, from the German division.”  
“Haru. The pleasure is mine.”  
Mercifully from a legal perspective, Nixie ignored him. “How’s Kyle doing?”  
“You know that kid?”  
“He’s my cousin.”  
Haru actually starting showing concern. “He went home with his mother. He’s having a rough time of it at the moment. If you’ve got time, go visit him.”  
“I plan to.” She spat the words, as if she did not appreciate being ordered.  
Haru turned to the other new face, or rather the mask. They shook hands briefly.  
“Darren.” Spoke the red God Eater. His voice quaked through clenched teeth. “We are here to help track the missing. Your Oracle tech is faulty, so we bought some analogue equipment from Fenrir HQ.” He pulled out a tracker, that looked like it was from the Twenty-First Century, and had been patch mended.  
“Monitor us.” Darren continued.  
“How do you plan to keep in contact should the Oracle tech fail?”  
“Fenrir provided us with tools from the museum.” Nixie replied. She produced two mobile phones.  
“Is that… A satellite phone!” Hibari quickly regained her composure. “You sure the satellite network still works?”  
“No, but objects in space don’t degrade quickly. A lot of the stuff put up there in the late 21st Century is still up there.”  
“When do you want to begin the search?”  
“ASAP.”  
“I’ll join you in three hours, Darren. That’ll give me time to see my folks, and if we split up, we’ll cover more ground.”  
“Agreeable.”  
“I disagree.” Sakaki interjected. “You’ll be easy targets if you separate.”  
“I said, agreeable.” Darren insisted.

The trackers had a limited range, so a convoy had to follow the two individually at a safe distance. It was a strange experience for Hibari being out in the field, even if it only providing support. She had dreamed of being a God Eater once, but had failed the compatibility test. She knew it was dangerous, but here and now, she had gone just a little further with her old dream.  
“Darren. Unidentified target on long radar has rerouted to your location. Medium size.”  
“Your Oracle Tech is still working. It’s irrelevant.” Came the reply. A grunt of pain sounded over the com.  
“Darren?”  
“I’m fine. Continue with the operation.”  
“You don’t sound well. Survival comes first.”  
Silence over the com. Unable to do anything else, she watched the blips move, red ships in a sea of yellow light. The red blip continued to move, slowing down. Playing a cat and mouse game it barely seemed to register it was participant in. The Medium size continued its merciless approach.  
Half an hour later, Darren cradled his right arm while cowering under the shadow of an ancient church, breathing deeply. As silently as he could, he scanned the area, struck by the silence.  
A shadowy stick staggered over a dune near the limit of Darren’s vision. It was heading straight at him with a lumbering gait, but it was too small to be an Aragami. Intrigued, Darren got up, and began to rendezvous with it. But after only a minute of walking, he stopped.   
The figure wore a Fenrir battle suit like his own, but ripped, with openings stained with blood long dried. It’s cracked helmeted head hung limply on its neck, wobbling almost comically. It shuffled silently across the sand, as if it was barely coordinated, and the right arm had mutated into a clawed purple outgrowth, three times too big for the rest of the body. Faded but visible, the name ‘Wilderman’ was visible on the suit.  
“Darren to command. I have found that kid’s father. Commencing Godsbane directive.”  
Silence on the opposite line, just long enough for a prayer. “Acknowledged.”

Darren drew his dagger, and charged the cadaver. The blade drove into its chest, bloodlessly springing from its back. He did a Rising Edge attack, dragging the blade out of the creature as he did so, to avoid a lumpen swing from the clawed hand. Dashing backwards in mid-air and swapping to gun form, bullets tore from the God Arc, but the zombified God Eater shrugged of the attacks. The mutant arm struck forward again, punching into Darren’s shield, Knocking him two feet backwards. It then swung up to crush him. He leapt sideways, the force of the blow rocking the ground hard enough he lost his balance. Exploiting the moment of weakness, the arm swung sideways, Clubbing Darren with all its might. The shield of his God Arc took the worst of the blow, but shattered in the process. Tumbling backwards from the force of the blow, his God Arc left his hand. Quickly as he could, he jumped for his weapon.  
His hand just touched cold steel, but not fast enough to dodge the claw which grabbed his armlet. Darren screamed with pain, dropping the blade, and with his other hand he tried to break the vice like grip. With inhuman strength, the claw dug deeper, venting blood stained with black. Feeling faint, Darren picked up the God Arc with his left hand. He drove it like a jack between the claw and his hand. The additional leverage was enough. He wrenched himself free. The suit had been shredded where the claw had bit down, revealing skin as purple and mutated as his assailant. The puncture wounds were visible where an armlet should have been.  
He charged again, black blood pumping from his wrist. Slashing with the relentlessness of a machine, he attacked the Aragami, watching the Oracle Cells flying before his rash charge. The claw buried itself into Darren again, this time attempting to crush his ribcage. But knowing this was his death rattle, Darren kept attacking, and as he did so, the crushing grip begin to weaken. Limbs fell from the beast, then, as the Oracle Cells began to lose cohesion, the core was revealed where a heart once was. The God Arc reacted unbidden, a final gift to its master, unsheathing its teeth and closing around the core. As Darren went limp, The God Arc wrenched the core from the Aragami’s chest. It gave what might have been a breath, and decayed into nothingness. Darren hit the floor, and did not get up.

Nixie got a call from Hibari, answering the phone as she had been taught.  
“We were told essential communication only.”  
“Red down. You’re on your own.”  
Nixie breathed deeply, burying any feeling. “Thank you for telling me.” Nothing more was said.


	5. The Reaper and the Vulture

A copy of ‘The Children’s Encyclopaedia of Flowers and Trees’ was open on Ruby’s lap. She poured over it avidly, the colours brighter than anything outside her home. A brown-haired man stepped into the room with her, looking troubled.  
“Daddy, when is Mummy coming home?” Ruby asked him.  
He fixed his features into a smile. “Soon. She’ll be home soon, I’m sure. What are you reading?”  
“The flower book.”  
Her father looked over, semi-interested. “What’s your favourite?” He spoke the question with a feeling ‘You’re going to tell me whether I ask or not, so I may as well get this over with’.  
“Roses. They’re pretty, and the book says they smell nice. I’d love to smell one someday. What’s yours?”  
He seemed pleasantly surprised at this. “I’ve always like lilies. Summer brought me a bouquet of lilies to our second date. It was only after that I told her that lilies are for funerals.” He chuckled. “Still have no idea how she got hold of them.”  
Ruby turned to the page marked lilies. A pink and white bloom opened to her. 

In a dark cell, the same lily picture sat before her thirteen years later, the pages ragged from regular use. What Kyle had said had reminded her. It was about the only thing she did remember from being four. Surprising, what you remember and what you don’t.

She had been allowed to take a few creature comforts into her isolation. She had chosen the most important book in the world, colouring pencils, and some paper. Now, a meadow of origami flowers had sprung up in her cell. Most were lilies.  
A lift jittered down to their level, and Doctor Soma Schicksal emerged. The first God Eater. The Reaper. whatever you called him, the man was a legend at Fenrir, though some would argue that was in infamy. Broad and dark, he wore his white lab coat, and even though he had mellowed a little since adopting the title of doctor (Ph.D. unknown) he still carried that air of apathetic darkness known colloquially as ‘edginess’.  
“Brendan. I’m taking over the shift.” The current warden nodded, and departed without a word. It was only at this point Soma noticed the garden.  
“Pretty good job you’ve done there.”  
“I’ve made one lily for each God Eater we’ve lost.”  
Soma decided not to tell her that they’d need more lilies now. “Who taught you to do that?”  
“Auntie Autumn taught me.”  
“As in Autumn Meadows?”  
“Yep. That reminds me, you knew her well, didn’t you?”  
“As well as anyone else did. I never got very close to people. Neither did she. I respected that, and her for it.”  
“I was wondering, how did she get thrown out of Fenrir? She always said they had ideological differences, and left it at that. Sakaki said you could tell me.”  
Soma propped himself against a wall, arms crossed. “The short answer is manslaughter. I’m guessing you want the long version.”

“When your aunt worked at the Far East, the world was a different place. No Gen 2 God Eaters, and the Aragami were evolving faster than we were. Fatalities were common, 3/10 on average. I was leader of the Second Unit, where the death count was a lot higher. Was that bad luck? My overconfidence? I don’t really know, but it was at that time I earned the title of Reaper. I still remember the whispering ‘Don’t go on missions with him, death is his companion’. But there was one in the unit who could cheat death. My Vice Captain, Autumn Meadows. Sometimes it was close, but she always came back alive. I think it was partly because of her skill, partly because her role as sniper kept her out of harm’s way. In hindsight I can see why it was suspicious. The same two people coming back from mission after mission, while everyone else they travelled with died. I was the Reaper. She was the Vulture, an eye high above waiting for death.”  
“I’m sorry people treated you both that way.”  
“Autumn didn’t help her case. I learned to deal with the aggression, she answered in kind. To top it all off, she was disobedient. Flouted orders and practice, did what she pleased. The former director, my father Johannes Von Schicksal, despised her. Which gave me all the more reason to like her. Anyway, the higher ups wanted her out, but it’s difficult to fire a God Eater, especially back then when they were rarer, and one of Autumn’s skill even more so. They got their excuse with the ‘Crayken brothers’ incident. Alexi and Aaron Crayken were new God Eaters, twins, who me and Autumn were tasked to take on a training op. But my most constant companion demanded his tribute…”

The team were stood at the site of the Temple when the call came through. “Captain Soma! Do you read, over?”  
“What?”  
“Large hostiles approaching your position, coming in fast! Three… no, five Vajra approaching!”  
“Five! Dammit. Evac, now! We need to protect the new kids!”  
“Already on its way, fifteen minutes to the extraction area. But at this rate, the pack will reach you in three.”  
“Very well. Over and out.” Soma turned to Autumn. “Take the kids and go.”  
“We’re as old as you!” Alexi jabbed at Soma.  
“What about you?” Autumn replied, ignoring Alexi.  
“I can buy you a few more minutes if I can give them something to hunt.”  
“Captain, you can’t fight five of them by yourself!”  
“And I’m not putting any more lives in danger than I have to.”  
“Are you seriously giving me that ‘noble sacrifice’ bullshit?”  
“Go, Autumn! That’s an order!”  
She scowled at him. “Come on, you two.”

Autumn and the Crayken brothers ran to the extraction point as fast as they could. “Right. Follow your Captain’s orders, stay here and wait for evacuation. If you encounter trouble, hide and live.” She opened a channel. “Tsubaki, the recruits are-”  
“No, sir!” Alexi said.  
Autumn raised her eyebrows.  
“I want to help too!” Aaron added.  
Autumn looked at the fifteen-year olds before her. Not much older than the niece she called daughter. She barked, “you are not ready for one Vajra, let alone a pack.”  
“The more of us there are, the more chance there is everyone comes home.” Alexi replied.  
‘Everyone comes home.’ They heard that from her. She breathed deeply. “Listen to me, idiots. You have a choice here. Either, you can follow your orders and Far East practice, wait here until I bring back Soma safely, and be safe. Or, you can help me go get out our fool of a Captain. Your choice. But if you choose to come with me, do it well in the knowledge of what you are doing. No hesitation. Hesitation means death.”  
“Revoke that, Miss Meadows.”  
The voice of the Director came from the channel Autumn left open. Silence was the reply.  
“You were given a direct order from a superior officer. Follow your orders.”  
“I am not leaving someone to die.” Alexi said  
“We’re not going to leave him!” Aaron shouted.  
“He said it, not me.” Autumn spoke into the communicator, before hanging up.

Soma felt the claws bury into his back and cursed his reactions. It wasn’t deep, but he would lose needless blood. He whirled to face the attacker, the lion-like maw just inches from him. He cursed a second time when he saw a bullet tear into the top of its skull.  
“I ordered you to run!” He shouted.  
“Your orders are stupid, and you’re stupid if you thought I would follow them.” Autumn replied over the com. It was difficult to tell whether Soma’s scream of rage was for the still bleeding Vajra or for her.

He and the Crayken brothers assembled into a triangle, each covering the others backs. Above, a safe distance away, Autumn watched, healing Oracle falling like leaves. “Listen recruits.” Soma said as the Vajra’s assembled, caped tigers a storey tall surrounding and considering how to tackle this new prey. “Defend. Don’t break formation. When extraction arrives, break through their line and we’ll go. We don’t fight to win. We fight to not lose. To arms!”  
The great tigers struck the God Eaters with blow after blow. Lightning rained upon them, but still the three stayed strong, the metal of the God Arc screeching in protest. But with the sniper’s support, and the monster’s attention focused on the shield structure, the desperate strategy held. Something like confusion might have been in the Vajra’s expressions, Soma even snuck in some punishes when he could get away with it. Nonetheless, after five minutes, the God Eaters began to tire. But the four Vajra’s continued their assault.  
‘Four’. Soma noticed. “Where’s the fifth?”  
An explosion from a rooftop answered his question. Dust and slush scattered as Autumn leapt from her hiding place in desperation, the beast in hot pursuit. Its left paw swung out; Autumn jumped back to dodge it. With the right paw it repeated the movement, to the same effect. It charged full bodied. Autumn let it pass underneath her before she fired down on it, the blowback giving her some additional distance. It was not enough to stop the wave of energy it sent from its body, and she tumbled from the roof stunned, hitting the earth below with a crunch muffled by the snow.  
Wondering for a minute if anything was broken, she was brought to her senses by the com. “Autumn! Support!” For a moment, she tried to find a way up to get them back into sight. But the Vajra was applying too much pressure on her. Shells burst from her gun, trying to slow the creature. It sprung with feline agility from roof to roof, maintaining the pursuit as she ran. It was trying to flush her into a more open space, where it could continue its attack.   
It saw her from above escape the corridor, and quicken its paces. The kill would be soon. Blindly, it jumped from the roof down, knowing its claws would either grace snow or flesh. Instead, it plunged straight into a trap. The paralytic spread quickly, halting the creature. Immediately, its cells began to adapt, but not enough to prevent the god only being able to watch as a demon written in blood, snow and black approached. The God Arc ignited, holding more cartridges than it could safely control, causing blue flame to dance from the end of the barrel. She plunged straight into the Vajra’s mouth. She felt something rip as she drove the barrel in, and fired. Little was left but ash.

A blinding lightning bolt cracked the sky, and the last of Alexi’s strength gave out. He was knocked down for a moment, his guard broken.   
It was over so quickly. So quietly. That was the worst thing. No last cry. No heartfelt speech. Just a low rasp as his lungs deflated from the claws that pierced them. Had Soma not seen the Vajra drag the fresh corpse from the formation, he might not even have known.  
The sound of a great wasp filled the air. Soma chanced a look up, and saw salvation. “Hold on!” Soma called. He slammed a stun grenade to the ground just as planned. The flash gave them a second to break for the direction for the helicopter. Soma ran, his unnatural stamina giving him an edge over the more human Aaron. As he rounded a corner, he saw Autumn approaching.   
“Alexi?”  
“Dead. Hurry.”  
She pulled out what was left of her weapon to provide support for the fleeing, but it only groaned in descent. Aaron was fleeing when one Vajra, the only one not stunned by the explosion, caught up with him. His back ripped open as he fled, an unholy cry reaching from him. In a desperate motion, he flung his God Arc over his shoulder, and it plunged straight into the calf of the creature behind it, toppling it.   
“I got you!” Autumn called, looping her arm under Aaron shoulder and half running, half dragging him, she got him closer to safety. The three survivors were on the helicopter by the time the pack had recovered. Soma hit the floor the with exhaustion the moment they were a safe distance away. A medic came over to him, but he raised his hand. “I’ll survive.” He said, before blacking out. 

Soma woke up before extraction had arrived back at base. He felt raw, an unusual and unwelcome amount of pain coursing through him. But he had enough consciousness to see Autumn standing, surveying him silently, and a blooded white sheet in the other corner.  
“Autumn, you bloody fool.” Soma said. Silence was their companion for the rest of the journey.

“I was in the infirmary when Summer was court martialled.” Soma explained. “Heard them through the roof.”  
“Autumn Meadows. You disobeyed a direct order from superior officers. You caused the deaths of two talented recruits.” Johannes summarised.  
“I gave them a choice. They knew what they were doing.”  
“They were children. Impressionable. Possessed with more bravery than sense. You were responsible for them.”  
Autumn paused, the only sign of regret. “I am aware of that.” She said, flatly.  
“You will never learn Fenrir’s doctrine, will you? The needs of the many outweigh…”  
“The needs of the few. I know the doctrine. So, would you have preferred it if I let your son die?”  
This time it was Johannes who was silenced for a moment. “It would have been logical.”  
Autumn exploded. “What kind of a father are you! What kind of wretched man would throw his son’s life away?”  
“Know your place, woman!” He replied.  
She didn’t. “I know that when you have a choice between letting five people die and killing another, Fenrir advises you take the logical choice. But human lives are not grain to be distributed. They can’t be valued. You can carry on your doctrine, give up on the innocent for the sake of reason. But if there is even a one percent chance that everyone comes home safe, I would risk the world for that chance. I never abandon people. That is my doctrine.”  
“We did not hear to discuss Fenrir’s ethos. Hand over your uniform. You’ve been retired. I want you on the other side of the wall by nightfall. And even that’s too good for you. Amamiya. Get her out of my sight.”  
“A few of the higher ups felt Johannes wasn’t harsh enough.” Soma began to conclude.   
Ruby cut in. “Autumn then stole a bunch of stuff for repairing God Arcs and generating Bias Factor, then her caravan moved to the place the law couldn’t follow her. Aragami territory. I remember that bit. We’ve been gypsies since.”  
Soma chuckled. “Only she would think that was a good idea. And only she could make it work.”  
“What do you think, Soma? Was she right?”  
“I cannot say. But it if weren’t for her actions that day, I would not be here. And for that alone, I am grateful to her.”


	6. The Lost God

The purple hunter walked across scrubland, useless for growing, but marked by a vast rock arch, all enough for a building to sit under. A relic of a bygone age. Nearby it, was a relic of a modern one. A great scar carved into the ground by the earthquake when the Spiral Tree was corrupted. Even now, it seemed to bleed.  
“Fenrir HQ. Entering into Sector 7. Confirm.” Nixie spoke this into the Oracle tech about an hour and a half later, but nothing but static replied. At this, she opened up the mobile.  
“Miss Takeda, my Oracle tech has started to malfunction. I must be getting close.”  
“Acknowledged. Be safe Nixie.”

It was gone like a flash of light, but she saw it. A great arch bathed in light, while she sat in shadow.   
“Ruby. Are you listening?” Soma said.  
“Oh… yes.” So brief, and gone so quickly, Ruby wondered if she had imagined it.  
Nixie saw a shadow launch itself from the depths of the pit. Almost at once she knew nothing more.  
Ruby felt the iron taste of blood in her mouth. She thought it was her own, but there was no bleeding. In fact, now, there was no taste.  
The tracker began to move, faster now. Changing direction.  
Hibari opened the com. “Nixie, are you pursuing the target?”  
A distorted, rhythmic thud answered.  
Hibari directed her eyes on Isaac. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that was a heartbeat.”  
Isaac Feldman just looked at her morosely as he listened into a different communicator. “Fenrir. Purple down.”  
A reply through the com. “Is the tracker still responding?”  
“Yes.” Isaac replied. “But.”  
“Excellent. Discontinue the operation.”  
What?” Hibari said.  
“Head for home. Nixie’s mission was a success.”

Sakaki and Isaac stood in the briefing room half an hour later. “Losing Nixie is a tragedy.” Isaac said. “But it is one we can make use of.”  
“Forgive my cynicism, but considering you think it was a ‘tragedy’ you hardly seemed encouraged to protect her. Or Darren, for that matter.” Sakaki replied.  
“The tracker was planted on them both as a safety measure. That’s what Fenrir told me. Darren was ready to die. He wanted to make it mean something.”  
“It doesn’t change the fact that Fenrir ordered the sacrifice of God Eaters for a technical advantage. Did you know about this?”  
“I would have vetoed it if I did. I know that seems hard to believe.”  
“It’s alright. I trust you, Feldman. But I wonder who would stoop to such ruthlessness. Even by Fenrir’s standards, it’s ghastly.”  
“I can appeal for an enquiry if you wish, but I’d suggest I get a few of my people to investigate this quietly.”  
“Thank you. In the meantime, you are right. We can now track whatever is causing the disappearances. I’ll arrange a team.”  
“No need for now. Fenrir says they have already dispatched. Suspiciously quickly if you ask me.”  
Sakaki seemed unfazed. “I’m going to rally my troops. I want nothing more to do with Fenrir’s schemes.”

The battalion gathered, fully armed with as much weaponry as they could handle, pursuing the target. God Arc soldiers, God Eaters, even some experimental protype weapons. When they reached the Valley of the Blue Ice, the target slowed down. The team Fenrir had dispatched were capable of dealing with Psions, but the nerves in the air were palatable as they waited, lying in wait for the target. The blip that indicated the monster got closer and closer.

Ruby’s head split open with the pain. Agony ran through her for a split second as she tried to fight it, before she felt that glorious fury rise in her again. Infinite blue stretched before her, as she scanned the ground below for those who had been unwise enough to challenge her. She saw them. A small army, heavily armed. Confirmation of what she had feared. No matter, she could still remove witnesses.  
She heard Soma’s voice, and something about it pulled her back a little. Two images began to swim before her. “Above you… run… RUN!” she managed, before feeling a fresh wave of emotions swallow her. A hail of bullets slammed into her, fighting through the pain she plunged into the heart of the pack. A tank oblivonised under her charge, flames dancing around her. Her fangs removed the spine of the nearest man, and she roared to the heavens as she summoned red light. The men had recovered from the shock, and some acted quickly to dodge her attacks. Under the relentless assault of the God Arc Soldiers, she realised this was unlike any earlier human opponent. Powerful. Determined. Nonetheless, they will bow.  
The real Ruby screamed again, feeling like her blood was on fire, as she felt Evoke’s power surge. Then she lost herself entirely as the thing she became flooded with power unparalleled. Her wounds healed, the Oracle cells on the surface steeling as their true potential was awakened. Golden flame crowned her, and she reared like a demon king, a single laser launching from her mouth. Everything it touched was reduced to ash. The blood rage took her, and she felt existence relent at her touch. Metal, Aragami, stone, human. All irrelevant. Insignificant. She was an artisan of destruction, this world her canvas, as she painted a tapestry of death and ash around her. Where seconds before there had been a force even the strongest Aragami would fear, now there was nothing.   
She looked down at the melted ice underfoot. Ruby saw herself for the first time. Huge and four legged, with the face of a cruel god, golden blades for wings, lethal bladed gauntlets on her front paws. A long tail, studded with thorns. Purple spikes with sparks around them. Not quite a lion. Not quite a dragon. Nor a demon. Merely divinity itself.  
Whatever it was, when Ruby was wrenched back to reality, she could not shake the feeling it saw her in the reflection too.


	7. The Oracle Palace

“A resonance with an Aragami? Such a thing was thought impossible.” Sakaki took a great interest in what Ruby witnessed. Asking her to recount the details again and again, fascination blinding him to how traumatic it might be. “Can you describe it once more?”  
She did so, Sakaki making careful notes. “When I had the last vision, I felt like I touch its mind. It felt like it was using Blood Rage.”  
“If you touched its mind, did you get any idea of what it was thinking?”  
“It’s intelligent. It seemed to have been trying to avoid us, and understood that now we can track it. I’m not sure it knows why, though.”  
“Interesting. There are still some mysteries I am going to consult with Soma about. The more we know about this creature, the better. Nonetheless, the longer we wait, the stronger it could become.”  
A shadow was making its way across the waste that night, slow wingbeats the only indicator of life. The mountain range of Oracle Cells around the Lush Sanctuary would seem like an odd destination for an Aragami. Instincts of revulsion began to well inside, but as always, the King supressed them. The outer reaches had served as his cradle as he’d grown, learned, and planned. It seemed only befitting that it would be the place where he would make his stand. He landed on the top of the tallest mountain, surveying the plains cast in violet beneath the moon. Underfoot and above, signs of his species’ failure. He was about to prove that he would not.  
The creature spread its wings wide, flames weaving into being around them. Like a wolf he howled, summoning forbidden power into being. Pure Oracle energy radiated off its body as a heavenly light, red bolts of lightning completing the display. The energy seeped into the ground, veins of blood leaking into the white shell.  
The mountain breathed. Heaving with an earthquake, it began to reshape itself. The relics of the old Aragami crushed into powder as the tower weaved itself into a new shape. A white dome formed over the Lush Sanctuary, the advancing walls bulldozing what little infrastructure had been built there. The beacon of hope was isolated once more, as the very earth answered the call of its new monarch. Evil looking spires sprung into being, breaking through the ground to rise. The changing settled gradually, the earthy roar fading. A vast labyrinth of white, black and red had been born, and at its peak, a throne tipped with spires, like a crown of thorns.  
The king unleashed a new note, and a wave of energy spread from the site, a beacon of red light. It swept across the land, and wherever Aragami were, they stopped to listen to this song. The wave crossed borders at the speed of light, land and sea, until in that moment, every Aragami in the world was listening. Waiting.  
One human in the world felt it too. One minute she was in the office, the next it ripped through her heart, drowning her like a tidal wave. She saw through the creature’s eyes, but this time she felt it knew she was there. It wanted her to see this.  
“Ruby!” Sakaki called, knowing what was happening. “What do you see?”  
“My kindred among gods.” Ruby spoke. Her voice was deep and unnatural, like a trance. “What is your purpose? Our instinct is to devour, to live is to feast. We live to bring the Devouring Apocalypse. To destroy this world so it will be born anew. The first failed through that human weakness, compassion. The second failed through cowardice. And my parent failed through hubris. But I have seen further than any other.”  
“Are we not gods! Can we not be greater! Hear my words, Aragami! Our instincts will lead us to extinction! You believe our purpose is to devour, but I see our purpose is to rule. Heed my call, eradicate the human plague once and for all, and take our place on this world’s throne.”  
Ruby jerked convulsively, still translating from the creature’s language. “And why stop there? The Earth, Moon and stars. All could be ours! A kingdom of the Gods. Heed the call of your king!”  
A new blast of Oracle energy was released from the palace. A summons. And around Japan, Aragami began to assemble. Converged on the epicentre. An endless army began to make its way across the country. Across the world, the monsters made preparations for the new day. The era of Aragami.  
Ruby began to regain consciousness as the link began to weaken. She heard the last words from her own mouth. “Your move, humans.”

In the meeting room the God Eaters of the Far East gathered, anticipation and nerves running through the crowd. Dr Sakaki stood by a microphone, a display screen behind him. Ruby sat nearby, waiting to be called. Soma sat on his opposite side.  
“Everyone. Thank you for coming.” Sakaki started. “I have called this meeting as we face a matter of great importance. We are here to discuss the nature of this ‘King of Aragami’. Thanks to the sacrifices of the Rangers, we know now have a better idea what we are dealing with.” An artist’s impression of the Aragami appears on the screen. “Our only other source of information about this new species has been Ruby’s visions. I and Doc. Soma have put our heads together, and have come up with theories about this creature.” Ruby put up her hand.  
“Director? Can I suggest a name?”  
Sakaki seemed surprised at being interrupted. “If you wish. Fenrir hasn’t titled it yet. Since you were the first to ‘observe’ it, it seems natural.”  
“Prometheus.”  
Sakaki pondered for a moment. “The titan that stole fire from the heavens. Appropriate. But enough of that digression. ‘Prometheus’ is able to elude our equipment, and most closely resembles the original deusphage, the Dyaus Pita. The greatest mystery is how Ruby could resonate with an Aragami. Resonances and shared memories between New Types are a known phenomenon, but resonating with an Aragami is unheard of.” A look of longing crossed Sakaki’s face. “It may offer a hope for a future where we can communicate with our enemy.” The daydreaming look disappeared as abruptly as it came. “Once we encounter a less malevolent creature. It was Soma who came up with our prevailing theory.”  
Soma stood up to take over the speech. “It is my belief that this ‘Prometheus’ may be a highly evolved Arc Aberrant.”  
Gilbert spoke up. “Doctor Rachel has been dead for months. And it doesn’t look like any of the Arc Aberrants.”  
Soma continued. “Doctor Rachel created each Arc Aberrant based on each of the members of Blood, and copied their powers and information. For example, the Rakshasa Kongou has Nana’s blood art.  
Ciel took up this thought. “The Einherjar was based on Julius’ World Closer form. The Mukuro Kyuubi has Intuit, the Caligula Xeno Inspire.”  
“Livie wasn’t yet a member of Blood. And Romeo was… out of action.” Julius replied. “Which leaves only one member of Blood.”  
“Me.” Ruby finished.  
Soma nodded. “If Prometheus has the power to Evoke, it might explain how it can become so powerful. Theoretically, it could use that power to alter the Oracle Cells in our tech, thus creating a dampening field around itself. That’s why we can’t detect it. And it has had months to devour and evolve. Lastly, it is the only way I can explain why it’s only Ruby that responds to Prometheus when it activates. Blood calls to blood. Evoke to evoke.”  
“So. How do we kill it?” Ruby voiced.  
“The creature has made a palace of Oracle cells on the outskirts of the Lush Sanctuary, so we must take the fight to it. An army of Aragami have amassed to defend their king, and the later we act, the more will come. So, the plan is simply to distract the forces long enough that Blood, can penetrate the line and find Prometheus. We are splitting into three teams. Team Alpha will be led by Romeo.”  
Romeo was clearly not informed. “Wait, me! Captain!”  
“It was my suggestion.” Julius said. “Your talents are vital to this mission, so it only seemed fair if you be allowed to spearhead.”  
“Romeo’s Heart power is an ace we intend to use.” Said Sakaki. “We will need you to repel the Aragami for the gates of the palace, so teams Beta and Gamma can break through. With the lines scattered, the Aragami will likely try to reconvene outside, or worse, head for the palace. We need to secure the entrance. That will be the job of teams Alpha and Beta, the latter will be led by Yuu.  
Yuu Kannagi stood up. There was a clamour at the appearance of ‘The Far East’s Alpha’.  
“Buddy!” cried Kota from the back lines. “I thought you were in South America!” He stormed up to give the guy a smack on the back.  
“Yes, yes, Kota. It’s good to see you as well. But if Sakaki called me across the world from my ‘top secret mission’” (These last words were spoken with a bitterness than his mission was now less secret) “we don’t have much time for sentiment.”  
Kota seemed a little cowed at Yuu’s reaction. “You always were so serious, man.”  
“NOW!” Sakaki called for order. “Team Gamma will be the remainder of Blood, led by Ruby. If we can secure the perimeter of the White Palace, we will send additional support to the fighters inside. As for everyone else, spilt into your usual units and assist team Alpha with thinning the lines.” Now Sakaki focused his attention on Blood. “Do not let it escape. We end this here, before it can get any stronger.”

The atmosphere in the den that day was one of grim anticipation. The operation was sent to commence at 1700 hours, so the men and women of the Far East branch fine-tuned God Arcs, exercised and waited.  
Ruby was waiting in the workshop having been summoned by Licca. “I have been studying Prometheus’ resonance waves” she began. “We know it is something about your Evoke that causes the connection between you, but if it happens again, he might be able to control you. I’ve made this headset to try and block it.”  
Ruby put it on without answering.  
“Hey. Are you ok?” Licca asked.  
“Having a monster in my brain is a bit disturbing.” Ruby replied in monotone. “How’s Summer doing?”  
Licca noted Ruby’s attempt to raise her own spirits did not even reach her voice. “Ready as she’ll ever be.”  
“Like me, I guess.” She departed without another word.

The teams gathered in the exfill helicopters, ready to dispatch. Ruby’s team of herself, Gilbert, Ciel and Livie gathered in the chopper with the first unit. Kota was keen to catch up with Yuu, leaving Ruby with the other two. Their conversation became an unwelcome buzz in the corner, and once they had finished it was replaced by an even more unwelcome silence. Ruby clutched Summer near to her, her heartbeat thrumming through the metal.

Finally, Erina took the plunge in an attempt to dispel the tension.  
“Ruby. There’s something I’ve always wondered about you.”  
“Hmm?”  
“Well, about your God Arc. It’s a she, right?  
“I know they don’t really have genders. But yes, I like to think so.”  
“I named mine Oscar, short for God Spear, for obvious reasons. But I never worked out why you named yours Summer.”  
Emil the aristocrat unexpectedly interjected. “Our God Arcs are our companions in chivalry, as such, the name must be something to be treasured. Something that symbolises our hopes and our dreams. Like my beloved Polarstern…”  
“Shut up, Emil! Anyway, Ruby, why is your God Arc named Summer?” Erina said.  
“The most gentile of seasons for the most gentile of God Eaters.” Emil suggested.  
“It isn’t named after the season. My Mum was named Summer.”  
Erina gave a little nod in acknowledgment, then did a double take. “Was?”  
“Mum and Dad died when I was very little. I don’t remember much. Auntie Autumn told me the details though.”  
Erina looked apologetic. “What happened?”  
Ruby shrugged. She was so nonchalant about it. Having lost family to the Aragami herself, Erina found it disturbing. “My Mum was named Summer Meadows. My Dad was Kazuto Icimara. They were God Eaters, which is why I wanted to be one too. One would go out on a mission, the other would look after me. One day, Mum went out on a mission and never came back. Two weeks later, my home was attacked by a Susano’o.”  
Emil closed his eyes, looking unusually solemn.  
“I think Dad knew. He told me he’d take care of it. He killed it, but died of his wounds. Autumn took me in the next day.”  
“I’m… Sorry.” Erina said.  
“It’s not your fault, and like I said, I don’t remember it well. The only memories I have are happy bits. I named my God Arc to remind me of that. A reminder of the people who inspired me.”  
Her face became a little sadder. “The thing I remember most clearly was my Auntie. She never spoke about it. Never cried. But every morning, an origami lily would appear on the table in the caravan. Different one every day. The day after Mum’s funeral, there was no lily on the table, and she was crying. Only time I ever saw her cry.”  
The silence came back into the room. And this time, nobody tried to evict it.

The set up base camp on the highest hill in view of what was the Lush Sanctuary, deep in a cave. Looking at the skies above, swarming with Zygotes, it was the only place they could guarantee some calm. The white spiked structure reached into the sky, unearthly and imposing. A horde of Aragami unlike any Ruby had ever seen gathered around its base. A swarm of ants at the foot of a nest of ivory. A flash of red burst from the throne-like structure at its peak. Ruby tensed, but it passed her without incident. Licca’s device worked, it seemed. Small comfort. Ruby felt that someone should stand up and give some heroic speech. Rouse the troops before the battle. That’s how it worked in the movies. She wondered whether in the movies they were this prepared to die.


	8. Operation Khvamli

Nightfall was upon the group when they assembled for battle. Aragami can function just as well at night as in the day, so a night time assault would be disadvantageous for the humans. Fenrir were counting on the fact that their enemy had made the same calculation, and so would be less prepared for an assault.  
“Data Lines established, testing.” Said Hibari into the operating system. “Team Beta, do you read? Over.”  
“Loud and clear, over.” Came the reply from Yuu.  
“Gamma? Do you copy?”  
“I… I guess.” Ruby replied.  
“Alpha. Are you there?”  
“Roger that, my lady. We do have copy, am awaiting awestruck veneration when we wrap this mission up.”  
“Keep up that confidence, Romeo. Alright. Give the gods hell.”

Silent and in formation as a wolfpack, the teams departed. They managed to close a fair distance to the palace, but inevitably the thousands of eyes in the sky picked them out. As if answering a call to arms, a line of Aragami began advancing towards them in a discordant devil may care charge.   
Romeo and Julius stood side by side and focused their blood powers, Control and Heart linking in harmony. The line was feet from them before Romeo unleashed the full force of his will. A brilliant white light sprung from the advancing line of humans, energy that seemed to chill the very air to a bracing level. The nearest Aragami were hit by the full force of the wave, and simply necrotised where they stood. A cacophony of anguished howls rose, as the energy anathema to the Oracle Cells hit the Aragami forces. On instinct, many began to break ranks, some turning on each other in their rush to escape. Still others staggered around blinded and confused. As a response, a fresh blast of energy emanated from the Oracle Palace. Some of the Aragami on the edge of the blast zone of Romeo’s power began to regain some of their composure, but it did little for the panicked ones within. Instead, the infighting continued. Prometheus had ordered those still under his command to devour the panicked Aragami too, knowing that he would have troops to spare.  
It did not change the human’s plan. They spearheaded through were the line was thinnest, shelling their opponents with as powerful a collection of bullets as they could muster, trying to further the carnage and confusion.   
“Did you see that? I fired my blast gun and I was on target! And again!” Kanon had finally discovered that, contrary to popular belief, she could hit the broadside of a barn, if she was inside it. And as her friends know, when Kanon’s bullets find their mark, they bring pain.  
Julius’ steel cut down a Chi-You and a small gap formed in the line. “Gamma. Go for it!”  
“Roger!” Team Gamma sprinted through, a rapidly closing alleyway towards the palace. The hail of fire now focused on Gamma’s flanks, keeping the team safe until they get inside. A Vajra threw its full weight towards the group, but as it flew, it got torn in half by a sniper bullet, scattering like ash.   
“Thanks Mum!” Ruby said to herself.  
Autumn herself was so focused on protecting her niece, that she was not paying attention to her own surroundings. A lethal mistake.  
“Autumn!” Shouted Soma. She had just enough time to roll as a second Vajra tore at the area she had been, but it only took a second for the beast to round on the cornered huntress. Soma made to rescue, charging towards the creature.  
Autumn grabbed the wrong end of her God Arc and swung it as a bludgeon, knocking the fang aside. From there, she fired the barrel from the wrong side. The bullet tore away the ground between her legs, and the knockback sent the gun backwards into the Vajra’s face. It staggered backwards, dazed. Autumn grabbed the weapon, spun it back the right way, and drove it straight into the creature’s maw. The sharpened barrel dug into something inside the beast, impaling it like a pike. Then she fired, and the creature was torn in two.  
“Hey girl.” Asked Haru. “You free later?”  
Autumn brushed a little piece of Vajra off her face. “Only if you’re paying.”

The entrance of the Oracle Palace was soon but metres away, a thin line of Aragami between them and victory. “Flash!” Ordered Ciel as the three maws of an Orochi opened before them. Gilbert responded at once, the grenade cracking open. The four then vaulted over the head of the dazed dog, cleaving the Ogretails apart behind it. Wasting no time, they charged through the door before the monster recovered.  
“Beta One to Hibari.” Yuu said into the com. “Gamma are in.”  
“Well done, troops. Continue the operation.”  
“Hey Yuu.” Lindow shouted, not noticing the pun. “Ever seen a mountain stand up?”  
“Can’t say I have.”  
“Then look behind you.”  
Yuu turned. An Amaterasu reared above him. A member of the Ouroboros family, but unlike a normal Amaterasu, it usually marble-white skin was laced with a cold black.  
“A dark Sun Goddess. Prometheus must have begun forging his own mutants.” He said to himself. “Lindow!” He shouted. “Ever seen a mountain fall down?”  
“Can’t say I have.”  
“In that case, you deal with the Orochi. Then, enjoy the show.”

Inside the Palace, it was only slightly less crowded than the outside. The din was deafening, as a thousand different calls echoed off a vast network of tunnels that seemed to connect the inside like a giant beehive. Team Gamma hid behind a pillar, watching the forces piling out of the gate.  
“We can’t take on that many.” Livie noted. “Even if we could, needless combat would be a waste of resources.”  
Ciel closed her eyes to focus her Blood Power, Intuit. “There is a passage on the other side of this wall. I can’t sense many Aragami there.   
“How do we get around?” Ruby asked.  
“Around?” Gil asked. He charged the wall with his lance, bellowing from the effort. The wall cracked, but did not yield.  
“Quiet!” Ruby hissed.   
Gilbert stopped, looking peeved. “It’s a good idea, but can you try it without attracting the neighbours?” Ruby stammered, seeing the look on Gil’s face.  
“I can barely hear myself over this racket” Gil muttered.   
“Sorry?” Ruby replied. Gil decided not to comment, and instead repeated the maneuverer, this time as quietly as he possibly could. After the third try, he drove right through.  
“Everyone, climb through. I’ll cover the retreat.” Livie ordered.  
The new passage was much darker and cramped than the first, the sound of the skittering creatures rattling through the walls. Ciel closed her eyes again, then pointed left. “Head this way. I can sense a massive Oracle signature in this vague direction.”  
“Once more unto the breach, dear friends?” Ruby narrated.  
“Come again?” Livie replied.  
“Something Autumn taught me; it’s called Shakespeare. Come on.”

A black tendril split the earth asunder, but Yuu was waiting for it. He dodged aside, then jumped and drove his blade into the tentacle.  
“Amaterasu are vulnerable to Spark.” He recalled.  
The barrel of his weapon clicked, and he locked the rifle part of his God Arc in place, opening fire upon the creature’s face. It recoiled, swinging its arm skywards. Yuu’s grip on his God Arc needed to be like iron as the he flailed this way and that, his legs in the air as his body pivoted around the handle. For Lindow it was disorientating and comical. For Yuu, it was disorientating and painful.  
Quickly, the black Amaterasu got tired of this needle in its arm, and attempted to swat it out.   
“Woah!” Yuu pulled the blade from the arm and tumbled, landing unsteadily after a mercifully short fall. The Amaterasu rocked forwards under the momentum of its own strike. The flying head of a Cerberus splatted on the creature’s side.  
“Show’s just getting started.” Lindow moved to Yuu’s side, fierce with determination.  
The black Amaterasu buried its tendrils into the ground, and crystal spikes erupted forth. The two God Eaters moved in different directions, and forced to split its attention between two attackers, the vast creature became ungainly and confused. Lindow looped his God Arc around one of the ropy flailing tentacles. Yuu did the same on the opposite side.  
“Time for a tumble?” Yuu cackled.  
As fast as they could, they looped around the creature, tying its legs together. As it lost balance, the bindings snapped, but not before it was past the tipping point. As if in slow motion, it fell, the earth roaring in protest as it hit the dirt.  
“Phew.” Yuu said. “Let’s continue with the op.”  
Lindow shoved Yuu sideways as a spike erupted at the place they were just standing. The black sun goddess was rising back to its feet again, unmarked and with something like amusement in its empty eyes.  
“Should have known that was too easy.” Lindow replied.

Deep in the dark passageway, the rumblings of the battle outside seemed so distant, it was tempting to forget that time was of the essence. Jogging down the dark passageway, the group mostly advanced with purpose, in awkward silence, until finally, a crash broke it.  
“Ow! Oh my God, the ground is moist, why is it moist?”  
“Maybe this tunnel was created as a ventilation shaft?” Gil suggested.  
“Unlikely. Aragami don’t have any issues with heat.” Livie replied. “I’d suggest that rain flowed down this channel, and the sheltered conditions discouraged it from evaporating.”  
Ruby got to her feet, dusting herself down in the dark. “Guys. When someone asks a question like that, they don’t want an answer.”  
Gil rolled his eyes, but it was too dark for anyone to notice.  
“Maybe we should slow down. We don’t want any more injuries.” Ciel said.

They plodded down the passage further, Ciel still leading the way with her in built compass.  
“So… What do we think of this place?” said Ruby.  
“In what way?” Asked Ciel.  
“Erm… I don’t know. Architecturally speaking.”  
“When I travelled to the nature reserve in Australia, they had huge mounds built by these insects called termites. I imagine if you were inside one of those, it would like this.” Livie said.  
“Considering where we are, spider’s web seems more apt.” Gil said.  
“Don’t tell Haru you said that, he might panic.” Said Ruby.  
“I’ve got a more important question for you, Captain.” Ciel said. “What is the point of this conversation?”  
Ruby looked imploring at her humourless companion. “I’m just trying to distract everyone from the situation. Keep us calm.”  
“More like you’re trying to keep yourself calm.” Gil replied.  
Ruby bit back. “We are in the house of a demon that can break into my mind. Sorry if I’m a little on edge.”  
“Light ahead.” Ciel said.  
Ciel jumped out of the impromptu hole in the wall into a deathly quiet part of the Oracle Palace. An intricate array of passages and turns surrounded, the area itself as high walled and grand as a cathedral, with the heads of fossilised Aragami emerging from the white walls like gargoyles. She turned around, and Ruby noticed her flinch.  
“Ciel, what’s wrong?”  
“Captain. I fear we may encounter trouble.”  
She indicated the wall. Along the wall was a set of three claw marks, each taller than a grown man.  
“… Let’s hope we don’t meet whoever made these. We have enough on our plate.”

The black Amaterasu let out a howl like a polar wind, and as it roared, ice crystals began to form in the air around it.  
“If it’s a cold star, kill it with fire.” Lindow suggested.  
The dark star plunged its tentacles into the ground, and what looked like crystals of black ice emerged from it. The spikes cut a line towards them, and they jumped in opposite directions. The other Aragami had been giving a wide birth to the black Amaterasu. Partly this was because they were focused on the main strike force at the front, but as a slow Borg Camlann was turned abruptly into a scorpion kebab by the misfired attack, the other reason was laid bare.   
Lindow loaded as many Blaze bullets as he could muster, and opened fire on the creature. Like fireworks they sparkled as they conjured a light mist where they flew. The bullets seemed little more than a nuisance for the dark goddess, but they inflicted the first true wounds on it.  
“Good call Lindow. Keep up the fire! Aim for the face!”  
“I’ve been on this road longer than you, Yuu, I know where to shoot.”  
Both opened fire, but the creature lazily covered its face from the fire. Then, the Black Amaterasu channelled some white energy at the goddess statue that was its face. After a few seconds, a wave of cold blasted from it. Both God Eaters were flung like toys. Almost at once, the creature reared up and leapt, trying to crush them underfoot. Lindow rolled to safety, Yuu was lucky that it missed. But now he was trapped underneath it. Which was both the worst and best place to be. He plunged a needle into his arm, and felt the fury flood him. Fire channelled to the end of his blade, he flailed like a maniac, black ice shredding around him.   
For the first time, the creature acted like it was in true pain. It stomped and clattered around, like there was an insect repeatedly stinging it that it was longing to crush. Lindow charged forwards to join Yuu underneath, hacking and slashing merrily. He sprung like a fox, and his Aragami arm to hook onto the creature’s leg, climbing with inhuman dexterity. The creature swung around madly, and one of its great tentacles struck Lindow in the chest. He flew sixty feet and scattered dust as he landed, the bias factor keeping bones intact, but feeling blood sticking to his shirt. As he rose, a spike flew towards him, and he cut it in two with his blade.  
The dark star swung its face towards him, and he watched the marble skin crawl backwards as it gathered energy from the core sitting just behind the eyes. For a second, an abyss of white was visible, then a thunderbolt from it split the air. Lindow braced behind his shield and was engulfed. The chill was biting, so intense that it felt more like he was on fire as his skin seared, and then numbed to unfeeling. Moments later, it was done, but Lindow collapsed where he stood, his God Arc even more battered than he was.  
Beneath the creature’s shell, Yuu was still doing what he could. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that he could cut off toes as much as he liked, he was doing little harm. One of the dextrous tendrils grabbed Yuu’s leg and lifted him off his feet. For a moment, the creature watched him struggle, as if relishing its victory. Then, the Amaterasu tossed Yuu into the air. It watched him fly upwards, and at the goddess heart, a laser began to form. Desperately, Lindow fired a shot at the monster, but it didn’t seem to care. The ray collided with Yuu’s shield, slowing his descent with the stream. The God Arc groaned under the pressure, a layer of frost forming on its shield. But Yuu on, despite his protesting hands. The laser began to ebb away, leaving the creature’s core temporarily exposed. Sensing a rare opportunity, with a roar, the God Arc sprung from its metal chains and buried its fangs into the core. The dark goddess screamed, as if it knew what would happen next. The core thrashed against the God Arc’s grip, but as the God Arc retracted to pull Yuu closer, he plunged the blade of his God Arc straight into the core. Cracks began to appear on the creature’s outer shell, and the pieces fell apart with a last unearthly sigh.  
Yuu hit the ground harder than he would have liked. His God Arc clattered by his side. He could hear it panting. “Rest a moment, my friend. We lived.”


	9. Throne of the Gods

Clearly the majority of Prometheus’ forces were outside, as the labyrinth was eerily quiet. Ruby felt it could be considered beautiful, but the feeling of what else could be lurking around the next corner keep the team on their toes. Navigating through the labyrinth was easier than you would expect, having Ciel’s Intuit to keep them on track. A small mercy; aside from a short scrap with a set of Silkies patrolling the place, they managed to pass through unopposed. The Gates of Prometheus’ inner sanctum stood before them. Judging on their size, they would have been too heavy to push ajar, but the gate was wide open for them, as if they were expected. With trepidation, they entered into the room.   
It was octagonal, and much taller than it was wide, two windows were placed near the top, and above sat a ceiling that looked almost like glass, transparent but staining any light that came through it in an emotionless white. Above them, unreachable from the ground, was a platform, flanked with two spires. There was no chair, but judging on the way the occupant stared down upon them it was quite clear that this was the throne of the Aragami King.  
He seemed almost bored, languishing like the lion he resembled. But his eyes were focused on them when they entered the room.  
“Recognise me, monster?” Ruby said. The creature gave a call that seemed to serve as confirmation. The resonance wave spread wide, and although her mind seared in pain, it remained hers. The creature seemed interested by the lack of response. It then spread its wings wide, and flew down slowly, descending from heaven. Gilbert pulled out his gun and opened fire, trying to get some easy damage on it. The bullets hit home, but the creature didn’t even speed its descent in response. It touched down elegantly, totally in control.   
Ruby took a deep breath, then ordered her comrades. “For a better future.” Prometheus roar rattled the palace, and the battle of gods and men began.

Blood assembled as they had agreed. Ruby, Gil and Livie would surround Prometheus and coordinate their attacks, Ciel would provide medical support from behind. If Ciel got targeted, Livie would step in to the role of medic. As Ciel made to put some distance between her and the rest, the great doors sealed shut, trapping the team inside. As environments go, an arena without cover or vantage points was ideal, for the Aragami. 

Prometheus swung its claw into Gilbert’s shield, pushing him backwards under the sheer force of the blows. One of his wings slashed forwards, energy the colour of blood leading the blade. Gil ducked, and plunged his spear into its open face. The creature retreated in pain, and Gil celebrated for a moment. But only for a moment. Like a dragon, Prometheus unleashed a red laser from his maw, tearing the battlefield apart, and sending Gil flying into the backwall. Bloodstained, he did not get back up.  
Ciel made her way over to revive him, but the Aragami King rounded on her, sensing the danger she posed. Ciel dropped her flash grenade, and a combination of the flash and the surprise gave her a momentary opening. By the time the creature had recomposed itself, Ciel was resuscitating Gil. It tried to leap on them, but found two scythes had buried themselves in its flank.  
“Hold on, Ruby.” Livie commanded.  
Prometheus charged the laser attack again, but unlike Gil, Ciel was ready for it and reacted in time. At that point, it seemed to consider that opportunity lost, turning its attention to the other two. Red lightning swirled at Prometheus’ wingtips, and the room suddenly erupted in crimson. Ruby and Livie were wounded, but not severely, so they simply injected more Oracle to encourage their healing factors, then kept fighting.

The battle descended into a dance macabre, Prometheus being struck with blow after blow, as it waited for one of its assailants to make a mistake. Sometimes, a team member was struck or wounded, but usually Ciel reacted in an instant to patch them up. The team was coordinating impeccably. After fifteen minutes of combat, the attack had gone on for long enough to notice something unusual. The beast was being wounded, they could see it, but it wasn’t weakening. No weak points were being exposed. They meanwhile, were burning through their supply of recovery items. It was irrelevant though, death by a thousand cuts would be victory enough.   
Prometheus leapt up and tore some of its palace wall off, the large stones tumbling down on the mortals beneath. The team leapt backwards to avoid being crushed, but the creature landed on the opposite side. Then a new sound, a low rumble, echoed through the hall. The line of debris made it difficult to see what was happening on the other side, but Ruby saw blue beams of light strike the spires above. The team braced themselves, and as they feared, the laser breath blasted the layer of rocks apart. But when the dust had cleared, the team realised they had bigger problems. Its wounds were gone!  
Ruby moaned “Reanimates. I hate reanimates!”  
“It might be drawing Oracle from the palace somehow.” Livie said.  
“Work out how quick, cause if you don’t it’s practically invincible here.” Said Gil.

Prometheus sprung twenty feet into the air and descended down on Ruby, who felt its crushing weight bury into her spine as she attempted to tank it. She collapsed to the ground, pinned down by the creatures left paw. Another flash grenade, but the Oracle Cells had adapted. Close enough it could see the highlights in Ruby’s eyes, the creature seemed to relish the kill as it charged its demonic breath.  
In desperation, Ciel leapt onto the creature’s back, and swung her dagger left and right. One of the wild swings planted the blade deep into the purple spikes on the monster’s hindquarters. This seemed to give Prometheus some pause. It swung around clumsily, firing its beam devil may care. The wild movement threw Ciel off, but the blast would not have hit anyway. Ruby took the opportunity to scramble away, running to Ciel’s side.  
“My hero.” Ruby chuckled.  
Ciel seemed unamused. “I could feel it through my God Arc. Those are the organs it uses to regenerate.”  
“My time to shine then.” Ruby replied. She activated the resonance control system, and made her pledge. “I swear this oath in the name of my parents, and for all the people you have slain. Grant me the power to challenge this darkness!” Almost at once the team gathered their wills to fulfil the pledge made. Evoke’s power flooded the area, and even Prometheus flinched at its energy. Ruby got the chance to look into its face again. There was no fear in its eyes, only the satisfaction of finally facing a worthy opponent.  
Prometheus roared, and the spikes began to glow electric blue. In response, a pair of tendrils sprung from Ruby’s God Arc, but they did not attack. Instead, they buried themselves into her arm. She grimaced in pain, but by sacrificing her blood the weapon seemed only to increase its power. Unsheathing the Blood Drenched Fang, Ruby sprung with blinding speed, running rings around the monster. Again, and again her God Arc struck the purple spikes, chipping splinters off that regenerated as fast as she could cleave them. The rest of the team opened fire, and after a minute that felt more like an eternity, the light inside the purple spikes died. With one final strike, Ruby shattered them, breathing deeply as Evoke’s energy ebbed away.

Prometheus seemed rattled by the loss of its regenerating organs, roaring angrily, it spread its wings wide and soared back to its throne, landing like some demonic bat.  
“Running, coward!” Gilbert shouted. A resonance wave so powerful it shook the ground was Prometheus’ reply.  
She was still on the ground from the effort of Evoke, so Ruby’s spasm went largely unnoticed by the rest of the group. Despite the headset’s defence, she still felt the words burn into her consciousness. “Ent… Entertain me.” Ruby translated.  
The sealed doors burst inwards, as a new challenger broke into the arena. Claws taller than a grown man. Black and wreathed in golden flame.   
“Isn’t that… The Caligula I saw in my vision? Prometheus must have enslaved it.”  
Golden flames concentrated into the dragon’s right hand, and the blast cut a hole clean through the tower.

The actions and attacks of this new threat were known to the God Eaters, but this was still an unwelcome complication. The Caligula shot forwards, the blades on its arms crossing with Livie once, twice, three times, before she leapt overhead to dodge its lunge. Enraged, the dragon conjured a trident of flame in its hand. It jumped, aiming for Livie again, and the weapon clanged into her shield, before slipping off and burying into the ground. A blast of explosive force erupted from the point, knocking Livie skywards, but guessing where it would land Ruby had decided her response. a laser flew from her gun in the Caligula’s direction. It moved its head aside, but the bullet pulled back on itself, bouncing off the walls like it was inscribing a pentagram in the air. Then, it exploded with ruthless force at the Caligula’s feet, knocking it down.  
“You got any more of those?” Gil asked.  
“That was the last one.”  
“What? Why didn’t you save it for him?” Gesticulating to Prometheus.  
“I wanted to end this quickly. Besides, it wouldn’t work on him. He doesn’t stay still long enough.”  
“Guys. Dragon!” Livie shouted.  
The group capitalised on the small advantage, aiming for the creature’s throat. It unleashed blasts of flame and fury that frustrated their efforts to attack it, giving it time to recover its composure. Acting like its foot was crippled, the mutant Caligula dragged itself upright drunkenly. But when it was upright, it spread its wings and elegantly ascended into the air. The wind pressure from its wings staggered everyone present, and it summoned a tower of flame around it. Prometheus laughed at the spectacle, proud of its bodyguard. Walls of flame careened towards Team Gamma, leaving scorch marks in their wake. Ruby rolled around the wall of flame, and her cloak caught fire as it clipped it. Stop, drop and rolling to put it out left her open for a second, and the Caligula exploited it, charging head first into her. It ran straight onto Gilbert’s pike. 

Caligula’s last long sigh rang out, probably before it even knew it had happened. Undeterred by this loss, Prometheus called again, bringing more servants to its call. This time, two Susano’o punched their way in from a wall above. The great scorpions gave their guttural battle cries, but as they descended, they seemed wrong somehow. and it was only when they were close did Ruby see that they were miscoloured. Purple and red.   
Ruby buried her innate aversion. These were Aragami just like any other. And they would fall like them.  
Livie embraced her battle instinct as one who had fought this foe a thousand times before. She peppered the face of the purple one with buckshot, drawing its attention.  
“Focus the other one. I can hold this one off by myself.”  
Nobody on the team denied it, surrounding the skeletal red scorpion. The remainder of Team Gamma began to loop around it, a bizarre dance to try and encourage it to act rashly. It spun on the spot multiple times leaving bombs in its wake, but after the third it realised its strategy was ineffective, and it became more erratic, plunging its sword tail into the ground in its rage. This was a mistake, Ciel and Ruby descended on the blade, while Gil charged through the air, burying his lance straight into the Susano’os skull face. As it recoiled from Gilbert’s attack and tried to swat him off, the brittle blade twisted in the dirt. Ciel and Ruby swung in unison, and the sword-tail split in two, leaving the blade in the ground.  
“Ciel. This one is mine. Summer, grab the blade.” The God Arc purred in reply.  
The blade of a Susano’o is said to contain the essence of a God Eater’s weapon, the very thing they are most vulnerable too. The trouble is, it will devour any human that picks it up. God Arc’s have no such limitation. The teeth of Ruby’s God Arc gripped the shattered blade. Ruby could feel it shiver, almost as if the spirit of the dead God Eater was reacting to her touch, embracing the chance for that final sleep. While Gil distracted it, Ruby dived under the creature’s tail, sliding underneath the body, before her God Arc drove the severed tail into the creature’s abdomen.  
The creature screamed and thrashed against her, and Ruby had to hold on with all of her might, several times being kicked by the madly flailing legs. An acrid fluid flowed from the skull mouth, and the motions of its legs became twitchy. In a flash of terror, Ruby realised she could quite easily be crushed, so she made a mad dash for safety. Then the creature gave out under their own weight.  
“Summer defeating a Susano’o”. Ruby thought. “Ironic.”  
The team turned to Livie, who seemed pinned against the wall by the beast. Ciel and Gil rushed to her aid, but as they got closer, they saw Livie had a blooded shoulder but a look of triumph on her face. The other Susano’o was motionless.

Ruby turned her gaze to God. The shout she tried to raise refused to come, a strangled chain of noises emerging in its place. “When are you… ha… going to… pant… come down and fight?”  
Clearly Prometheus too was tired of playing games. Something like a leer crawled across its face, and it roared to the heavens. Energy burst from it, so intense the very ground shook. Ruby doubled down, eyes closed with pain, as what could have been blood boiled inside the Aragami’s King’s wings. As if a shell had been broken off, golden flames began to punch their way through the creature’s skin. The stone like grey of the wings scattered like ash, before the fire enveloped the wings in a divine chrysalis, leaving only the bleeding veins visible.  
“Be careful what you wish for, Ruby.” Ciel said.  
In an elegant motion, it sprung into the air, and plunged, the ruined ground of the Palace cracking under the force of the creature’s fall. Prometheus was not even scratched. Gilbert opened fire, but the bullets scattered like dust around it. The laser breath answered Gilbert’s attack, and he cringed as the heat seared his skin even as he dodged the worst of it. Livie’s scythe struck Promethus’ side, but the God Arc seemed to recoil as if burned.  
“No effect?” Ciel shouted. Red blood suddenly filled the air as one of the bladed wings cut into Ciel’s side.

Panic set into Ruby’s mind, still clouded with sound and fury that she wasn’t sure was her own. Was she going to watch her friend’s die? She felt powerless, a feeling she had not felt in a long time. Not since the aftermath of her parent’s death.   
“We need Blood Rage! Now!” She tried to focus. “I swear this oath in the name…”  
Almost as if he sensed it, Prometheus focused his attention on Ruby. Red lightning launched her like blooded claws, tearing into her. She flew through the air, hitting the ground head first, feeling her forehead swell, and the headpiece shatter.  
The ground gave way beneath her, the world changing from white to black. A voice called to her. A voice she had hoped she would never hear again.  
“This was always your fate Blood. To be the feast. Sleep now, my children.”  
Doctor Rachel’s voice ignited a fury inside her. “I swear this oath in the name of Ciel Alençon. Autumn Meadows. Everyone I love. Every human I fight for. This world may demand humanity’s end, but I defy it. Blood reborn anew!”

“Sakaki. Something’s happening!” Hibari called.  
“What!”  
“The Resonance control system is overloading! Evoke level at 1000 percent and climbing!”  
“How? Unless… She’s resonating with Prometheus…”  
Evoke burned in her veins, rising to a pitch she had never felt before. Her golden wings sprung forth, and her bleeding skull resealed. A resonance wave exploded from her, a tether of golden power extending to every human fighting. Uniting their wills.   
Ciel limp form regained its colour, and then more. Glowing, she rose like a butterfly, wings like Ruby’s birthing on her back. Each member of Blood in turn saw that they were doing the same.  
“So, this is what Evoke feels like.” Gil muttered. “I can see the appeal.”  
Right now, Ruby felt differently. Her very skin was on fire. She was burning with power beyond her capacity to contain. The Bias Factor in her body was rebuilding her at the rate of her collapse. A cycle of destruction and renewal like the world around her.  
“Tell me. Prometheus. Do monsters know fear?”  
Only a roar came as a reply. One way or the other, it ends here.

Ruby and Prometheus clashed, claw on claw, the force of the impact redirecting into the ground, causing it to rumble and crack. With renewed vigour Gil tagged in, lunging through the air in the wake of his spear. Light flowed from where it struck like golden blood, and he flipped backwards with birdlike grace. Travelling so fast it became a bolt of lightning, Prometheus soared above them, releasing a burst of energy the blasted the top of the tower. Moonlight flooded the battlefield, as the Aragami King was framed above them. King of Gods, but resembling a King of Demons. It began to bombard the world below, Red spears, golden fireballs and lightning bolts raining down on the Palace below. The explosions collapsed the palace around them, but their own hail of bullets from the ground necrotised the Oracle, leaving only a haze of dust against the one surviving wall, where the throne stood.  
Still Evoke spread, its influence growing like a beacon of hope. The God Eaters pursuing the army lower in the Palace felt the light wash over them, sharing its strength.   
“What the…” Yuu said.  
Romeo recognised it. “Don’t question it, use it.” He raised his buster and brought it down in a heavy blow. A bolt of Oracle energy flew in its wake, eviscerating Aragami in its path.  
Lindow cackled in excitement. “Track your kill count, people. May the best God Eater win!”

The bombardment continued. Blood’s new found speed allowed to weave this way and that through the bullet hell, the explosions deafening but not harming them. All the while, they continued to maintain their own rain of fire. Prometheus tanked bullet after bullet, each empowered with Evoke’s energy. Perhaps realising it was at a disadvantage, Prometheus descended from the heavens, with the speed and force of a missile. The team scattered as it plunged back into their midst, leaving a crater where it landed. It didn’t waste a moment, descending into an unholy rage, its blades swinging madly at everything in range. Even with Evoke’s power, this full-on assault was overwhelming. the God Eaters were forced onto the defensive, parrying blow after blow. Ciel dashed free from the party and cut behind the monster, swinging her blade down on the tail with all the vengeance she could muster. It howled in true pain, and barrelled towards her. She slipped underneath its lunge, and it barrelled off the edge under its own momentum.  
After being in freefall for a moment, it rose back into view, with the distinct look of being tired with these mortal games. It swooped straight at them, claws bared, and the team was knocked down just by the force of the monster’s wings. It arched it swoop upwards, sweeping up the wall of its ruined throne, before regaining its position far above them.  
The dragon’s breath formed in its mouth again. A blazing heat so intense it looked like it could engulf the world. The four friends huddled together, preparing to absorb it with their own energy. The red ray came, and it slammed into the manifested wills of the four God Eaters. A yellow shield against the red flame. The shield expanded, pushing the beam back towards its originator. For long moments the two seemed locked in equilibrium.  
Then the shield yielded, and the battlefield was consumed in a heavenly fire.  
The fury of Evoke burning in her veins had seemed beyond her pain capacity, but somehow this was even worse. The two combined into pain beyond imagining. The burning flame inside her refused to die, but consciously Ruby would like nothing better, just to stop this. Once the dust had settled, she her and her comrades were a crumpled mess on scorched ground, the golden light still burning, but seeming more of a mockery than a comfort now.  
Prometheus descended slowly this time, exhausted but sure in its victory. Balancing on its back legs it stood over them, speaking a final message into Ruby’s mind.  
“A commendable effort. But death is the fate of all mortals. You are blessed to face it by my hand.”

A knife slammed into the back of Prometheus’ neck, and the monster was brought to ground by the force of Kigurumi, the Faceless God Eater. Moments later, a cacophony of fire opened up on the beast. The rest of Fenrir had come.   
“Get up Team Gamma! You’ll miss the finale!”  
Still empowered by Evoke like the others, Lindow dashed in and buried his blade into Prometheus’ left flank, causing it to turn its attention on him. Quick as a flash, Yuu ran around the right side of the monster, and assaulted it there. Angered, monster took flight once more, but after only a few wing beats, it was hit by a blast of deafening force. It disappeared behind a layer of smoke, then re-entered through it, crashing to the ground. One of its wings had been partly blown off.  
“Did you see that Instructor? I hit it!” Kanon piped up from behind. Ruby staggered to her feet, still forcing Evoke to empower the others, and gave a weak thumbs up.  
Prometheus was weakening under the intense rain of blade and gunfire. For the first time, it made to retreat, but its escape was cut short when Autumn fired some harpoon lines to entangle it. Confused and limited, it began to thrash against its bindings, giving Ruby an opening. Once more she allowed her God Arc to feast on her blood, saw its fangs unsheathe to their greatest extent, and ran at the monster, hooking the scythe around the creature’s chest. Summer and Prometheus both howled in pain, but neither refused to yield to the other, straining against each other’s power. In a fluid motion, Ruby jumped upwards, bringing the blade of the weapon into contact with the monster’s throat. She saw the light shrouding Prometheus’ wings die the moment before she felt her weapon sever its head from its shoulders.

She landed on the ground clumsily, and collapsed to the floor. Her own Evoked form dissipated, and without it she lacked the strength to get up. For a split second, it seemed as though Fenrir had not noticed they had won. Then the celebrating began. They cheered, whooped and congratulated each other, heroes as much to each other as they were to the rest of the world. Ruby barely heard them.   
Face down where she was, she noticed the Oracle that had formed the base of the palace had been stripped away. With movement that her body was unwilling to do, she brushed away a few layers of dust ahead of her. She may have been fooling herself, but she thought she saw a yellow flower poke through. Whatever tomorrow would bring, right here right now, she was glad that her and it would face the coming dawn.


End file.
